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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

3 Things January -- Miscellany

Linking up with Michaela at California to Korea for her monthly 3 Things I love About Catholicism series. {Note to Michaela: I love the shorter deadlines and themes. It helps with the procrastination and the writer's block! Thanks!}
1. Universality: I love that the Church really is catholic (with a small c). I love that the Church is the same both horizontally and vertically. Her prayers, readings, and teachings are the same every day in every place where Mass is celebrated, even if the language and some customs vary. I love that, similarly, she is the same through time. Her teachings may have developed over the years, but they have been, are, and always will be the same.

2. A Tradition Everywhere You Turn: I'm not a fan of picking and choosing which Church teachings to accept or believe, but I am a fan of that fact that there is a celebration, tradition, or devotion that speaks to everyone. As we grow in our faith and as our lives go through different seasons, there is a time and a place for these different devotions, different prayers, different emphases. So long as the focus remains on growing in love of Christ, these changes are perfectly acceptable and reflect the needs of different parts of the Body of Christ.

3. Love of People: Like God, the Church loves people. I love the Church's consistency on this subject. Forget cradle to grave. She loves people and seeks to protect them from conception to grave (and beyond if you consider prayers for the dead). I know that the Church sometimes gets flack for its (according to many in the media) emphasis on the pre-born, but her teachings reflect that each and every person from conception to natural death has inherent and equal dignity. That is why she seeks to protect the unborn, to serve those who are in the most need, and to protect the elderly and vulnerable.